Articles of furniture are used in a work environment, for example, seating systems, including chairs and couches/sofas, that provide seating surfaces for persons in the work environment. Other associated articles of furniture such as tables to provide individual and shared work surfaces and panel walls (e.g. to provide visual or auditory privacy) are also used in a work environment.
In a work environment, persons may engage in a wide variety of tasks and types of activities, including focused individual work, collaborative interactions, one-on-one and group meetings, sharing of materials and documents, planned or informal social interactions, as well as intermittent relaxation and refreshment. Areas for focused work (e.g. office or task areas) and areas for social interaction (meeting or lounge areas) may be provided in a work environment. Ideally, the work environment provides articles of furniture that are configured or that can be arranged to support the wide variety of tasks and activities that persons engage in during the work day in the work environment.
Articles of furniture are used both for work or task-intensive areas and for social or lounge areas in a work environment. The work or task-intensive areas may provide conventional “office” furniture, such as desks and tables, office chairs and task seating, as well as related articles of furniture and other equipment configured for the office setting. Such “office” furniture is generally configured to support office tasks, including individual work and typically more structured collaborative work. The lounge areas may provide articles of furniture intended to be more conducive to relaxation and social interaction, such as lounge chairs and couches/sofas as well as tables having an appearance that is more “residential.” Articles of furniture for a lounge area in a work environment are typically configured for informal and collaborative/social interaction.
At times, persons in each type of area (office/task area or social/lounge area) in a work environment may engage in substantially similar individual or collaborative activities, for example, use of technology/computers, review of documents and materials on worksurfaces, communications of information to one or more other persons, etc.
Persons in a lounge area may wish to engage in task-related work. Because the typical articles of furniture in a lounge area are not ideally suited for certain of the tasks or activities intended to be performed, the persons engaged in the tasks or activities may choose to return to an office/work area for the task (which may result in a loss of time, attention or productivity) or may remain in a lounge area and attempt to continue work on the task notwithstanding difficulties arising because the articles of furniture are not ideally suited for the task (which may result in a loss of comfort, attention or productivity). For example, if a person engaged in a task suited for work at a table or worksurface is in lounge seating in a lounge area, the person may not have the comfort of a back support or backrest (as would be provided if the person was in a suitable office chair or task seating in an office area). In certain meetings or other interactions that may occur in a lounge area in a work environment, a relaxed or reclined seated posture as typically invited by the configuration of the backrest of typical lounge seating may not be comfortable for some or all of the involved persons or may not be optimum or completely appropriate in the context of the interaction.
Articles of furniture for a lounge area in a work environment are typically configured with a backrest positioned to provide comfort for a person engaged in lounge activities (rather than task or office activities). Such articles of furniture may not also be configured to provide comfort for persons who wish to engage in “office” or task activities (i.e. tasks of the type typically performed in an office area).